The Eighth of September.
BE NOT FAR FROM ME --- Psalm 38:21.
"Forsake me not, O Lord; O my God, be not far from me." --- Psalm 38:21.v
Divine Answer: "The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted; behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires; and I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones." --- Isaiah 54:10-12.
Such as have never felt spiritual distress cannot relish this word of promise; but they who have been brought out of great misery by this sweet word, or any other word of promise applied to their hearts by the Holy Ghost, will henceforth take hold of it, and prize it: yea, they should firmly believe, even without a present feeling of its comfort, that God will certainly perform the promise he has once sealed upon them.
He is a God that changeth not, and a God in covenant with his people, and his covenant is everlasting; therefore he will not forsake his people, but order all things for their good, and conduct them safely through their pilgrimage, though violent enemies assault them, and mighty tempests fall upon them. His faithfulness stands engaged for this.
Firm are the words his prophets give,
Oh for a strong, a lasting faith,
Then, should the earth's old pillars shake, Devotion for September 8
Sweet words, on which believers live;
Each of them is the voice of God,
Who spoke, and spread the skies abroad.
To credit what the' Almighty saith;
To embrace the message of his Son,
And call the joys of heav'n our own.
And all the wheels of nature break;
Our steady souls should fear no more
Than solid rocks when billows roar.